TALKS!

We will have a host of talks throughout the night featuring Venus Libido, Weather Factory, John Lau, Riana McKeith (King) and Dave Burpitt (Big Pixel).

Venus Libido

If you have ever experienced what it feels like to not be at peace within yourself, to struggle with loving & appreciating yourself then you will understand the inspiration behind Venus Libido.

Venus Libido was born as a direct result of experiencing self-doubt, mental health related issues & exploring her position in this world as a woman. Her story of survival, seeking inner peace & finding value in her life plays a huge part in the messages behind her pieces. Art was a lifeline for her & she believes in sharing her story with people through her work. Her pieces are deep yet comical, strong yet relatable, controversial and in some instances, she pushes the ‘socially acceptable’ boundaries & calls out things even if they are taboo.

The general aesthetic of her work is colourful and vibrant. It reflects a personal irritation and bitterness that has stemmed from experiences of misogyny, patriarchy and a constant fight for equal rights for women in the work place.

Venus is a female illustrator based in London. She spent several years working within a variety of different art industries & has taken her experiences within the working world to build this great platform.

There is a part of Venus Libido in everyone and she challenges you to find it

John Lau

John Lau is a freelance game designer and producer based in London. He's a former Senior Producer for Preloaded, a studio focusing on games beyond entertainment, and his interests lie in games as a medium for education and storytelling. He designed the VR exhibit for the Modigliani retrospective at the Tate Modern, and is currently working on games that help players improve their mental health.'What a spatial mechanic taught me about storytelling at film school'

Dave Burpitt

How to bag an IP like ‘Rick and Morty’ and deliver a killer game.

Big Pixel’s Dave Burpitt shares insights from working with franchise brands including Marvel, Disney and Rick and Morty. Learn about each step of the process, from securing the right IP to delivering a successful title for an adoring fan-base.

Shahira Allen

My name is Shahira Allen, I’m a freelance graphic designer living in London. I started my business Afro Glory Design in November 2017 in frustration of not being invited into spaces I am very qualified to be in. My brand and design work are all about representation of the black British community. I design merchandise for my brand that showcase blackness.

Riana McKeith recently joined King as an Art Director in the London Studio, where she leads a talented team of artists creating the artistic vision for some of the exciting new games currently in development. Originally from an animation background, Riana has over 10 years’ experience bringing charming and engaging stories to life and sharing them with players around the world. Prior to joining King, she worked as a Studio Art Director at Rovio and Wooga, as a lead artist at PopCap Games, and had the opportunity to work on several high-profile games such as Futurama: Game of Drones, Plants Vs Zombies and Bejeweled iOS.

Alexis Kennedy

Alexis Kennedy founded Failbetter Games, where he made Fallen London and Sunless Sea - both critical and commercial successes that have continued to influence the indie end of the industry He took a gap year to do guest-writing gigs for clients like BioWare, Telltale and Paradox, and now he's co-founded Weather Factory, a studio specialising in narrative experiments with a consciously indie aesthetic. Weather Factory's current project is a 'typically unclassifiable' narrative game, Cultist Simulator.

Cultist Simulator was a low-budget experimental project, and an unconventional. even divisive game. It also hit #1 on Steam and sold >50K copies in month 1. A lot of that was luck, a lot of it was marketing, but some of it was also the result of conscious design decisions. I'll talk about those.

VIDEOGAMES!

There will be a selection of Video Games on display to be played by attendees. This selection is curated by Demo Screen.

Hosted & curated by Jamie D (@uk_resistant), Demoscreen is an occasional event to showcase up and coming indie games being created around the world.

Ranging from just started projects to newly released products, the idea of Demoscreen is to shine a light on games which might get lost in the noise and to give developers of all backgrounds a platform to be seen.